Scarlet Sand: The Last Stand
by Talos Angel
Summary: A story that Stevo asked me to write. It is about the battle between Reimu and the Scarlet Clan mentioned in Mountain of Promise 2, Chance of eternity, so this is a prequel to the whole thing, so to speak. Too bad it's outdated due to Zephyr of Faith.
1. ACT I

Thur, August 2 (forgot the time, sorry.)

A.N1: This is a story for Stevo the Human, who reviewed MOP2, and said that he wanted me to write a story about the war between Reimu and the Scarlet Clan in the desert. I aimed to write a fic that has lots of fighting, but also explains a few things. I decided to have them use magic, but I took Spaztique's advice to not make it exactly like the game. Also, Spaztique, I do not like what you said about my niece, but I forgive you because you were just joking. Anyway, I hope you like the fic, and I will work on the reboot after this.

Also, the last reagent was not going to be oni semen, you sillyheads! it was going to be a vampire fang. Too bad, because I'm dropping the whole death/resurrection thing in the reboot.

Also, Reimu is not the "man" of the relationship; she and Marisa are both women, you goofus!

A.N2: If you didn't know already, I have a Deviantart account now! I will upload drawings and stuff there! I will put the link in my profile.

A.N3: This was a lot longer than I thought it would be, so I am splitting it into parts.

SCARLET SAND: THE FINAL STAND

-Reimu squinted her eyes as she gazed across the bronze dunes of what was now Gensokyo's first desert; she knew that something like this could not possibly have happened naturally, as there was a glade of coniferous trees here the previous day. Reimu gritted her teeth, regretting not having taken the yukkuris' advanced warnings about the Scarlet Clan seriously. At least she still had one person helping her out; her lifelong best friend, Marisa.

"To think," Reimu whispered to herself, "A few life suckers could have made a lifeless desert out of my family lands."

"You don't have much time to reminisce about what happened here," the blonde witch reminded Reimu, reaching for her shoulder, "Night is fast approaching...and that is when the Scarlets' fiendish armies are most powerful and active!"

Reimu looked up at the sky; the sun was setting down over the horizon, painting the sky a fine, sparkling orange, as pink clouds darted across the windy skies.

"I see...then there is no more time to waste!" Reimu shouted, the flames of determination burning brightly in her eyes. She leapt up into the air, bursting off into the distance.

"Wait for me!" Marisa screamed as she leapt off after the miko.

A few minutes of flight revealed the poor sight of Hakurei Shrine; what was once a modest dwelling of magical potential in the heart of the calm, peaceful woods, was now stuck smack dab in the middle of a dune desert; the tall, spiteful sand hills encroaching and burying the already dilapidated gate in front of the shrine. wooden beams were splintering from the grains of sand being blasted about.

"I don't get it," Reimu whispered to herself, "The Scarlets were never THIS malicious."

"Reimu!" Marisa called out, finally catching up to the miko, "I finally caught-" But she stopped when she saw something moving in the dilapidated storage shed.

"Reimu! Be careful!" Marisa cried out, "I think there may be a scarlet monster in the storage shed!"

Reimu squinted as she brought out her miko stick. "Ambush me, in my own home, will they?" Reimu apprehensively approached the storage shed, gripping the stick tighter and tighter, taking note of the rustling noises created by the entity as it clumsily tripped over the dusty wooden crates inside. Once Reimu got to the storage shed, she stuck her right hand out, and generated a ball of angry, crimson energy in it. Not a moment later, she leapt into the storage shed with the speed of a hurricane.

"Show yourselves, you bloodsuckers!" Reimu screeched as she swung her miko stick angrily. A single puffy blob-like creature, with short, light blue hair, and Icy eyes.

"D...don't hurt us, easy," The small yukkuri begged, "We just lost the easy forest."

Reimu de-powered her energy sphere, her face contorting into an irritated scowl. "Not these things again."

Marisa scrambled into the shed, a puzzle expression upon her. "Reimu? Is something wrong?"

"Just a little infestation." Reimu groaned as she pointed to the dozens of Yukkuris, who were by now emerging from their dark, dank hiding places in the crates and barrels, peering and whispering curiously about these strange bipedal entities.

"Oh Reimu," Marisa sighed, "These yukkuris get their food from the woods, which aren't here anymore. they are lost and frightened."

"But they REALLY had to choose MY family's shrine to hide from the big scary salt piles." Reimu snapped with exasperation.

"Reimu," Marisa pleaded, "They lost their homes. That would be like if the monsters just smashed your shrine to bits, forcing you to love in the woods."

Reimu shook her head as she placed her thumb, index, and middle fingers on her forehead. "I'm sorry...I just let the stress get to me." She grumbled, still clearly stressed out.

Marisa approached Reimu, putting her arm around Reimu's shoulders. "It's okay...I would probably react the same way if I were you." She stated.

_If you only knew..._Reimu thought to herself, gripping Marisa's hand, and gently removing it from her shoulders.

The blue-haired Yukkuri moved forward a little bit, shyly. "Can we stay easy?" She asked nervously.

Reimu looked down at the fidgeting young yukkuri, then back at Marisa, who stared into Reimu's eyes, Marisa's own shimmering and flickering.

"Fine," Reimu groaned, "Just don't make a mess of the place."


	2. ACT II

The small yukkuri began to leap up and down, squealing with delight. "We can stay easy!" She piped out.

The remaining yukkuris began to leap and squeak in celebration, bumping and rubbing against one another, twirling in the air, and hopping merrily around Reimu. a small grin crept across Reimu's face as she witnessed the revelry. Marisa giggled upon seeing Reimu's cute little smile.

"See?" Marisa chuckled, "You are a nice girl down under!"

Reimu blushed as she looked away from Marisa, as Marisa tightly hugged her from behind, leaving a peck on the shrine maiden's face. Reimu's mood darkened when she looked out the door, however, as she saw that the sky was quickly darkening.

"Dammit! Yukkuris, hide! Marisa, with me!" Reimu commanded with an unusually deep and throaty voice, squinting her eyes with anticipation. The Yukkuris squeaked and squealed in fear as they scuttled about, searching for a good place to hide from the encroaching danger. Reimu Gritted her teeth as she dashed outside, and up to the roof to get a better view, with Marisa following suit.

The sky had become pitch black: not a single star in the sky, but the moon appeared to be exceptionally huge, taking up most of the sky, dyed an angry red, as if about to pour fire all over Gensokyo. Off in the distance, behind the dunes, a massive cloud of what looked like black and glowing red smoke was forming, and rapidly encroaching the shrine from all directions.

"Shit," Reimu grumbled while gritting her teeth, "There have got to be millions of them!"

"Reimu, do we really have to protect the shrine?" Marisa asked, her voice somewhat shaken, "We could just evacuate everybody and-"

"That is out of the question," Reimu stated bluntly, "If we don't stop them here, they will overrun the rest of Gensokyo, and likely turn the rest of it into this desert. I, being the protector of this world, will not allow such harem to come upon it."

A surreal scream erupted from the smoke, in fact, thousands and thousands of screams began to screech from the cloud as it encroached.

"And just what is your plan for stopping them?" Marisa inquired nervously.

"Vampires don't like sunlight, right?" Reimu asked, raising both of her hands, "So that means I just have to distract them until daylight."

"But there are too many of them!" Marisa cried, "They'll tear you to shreds!"

A vague smirk appeared on Reimu's face as her hands began to glow blue. She shot out a large energy ball that went straight up, and formed a dome, just big enough to surround the shrine.

"This won't keep all of them out," Reimu sighed, "But it should make the fight more fair."

Marisa seemed puzzled. "Don't you have to concentrate your magical energy to do that? How will you fight?" Marisa asked.

Reimu smiled as she threw her arms around Marisa. "With you, of course." She whispered softly. Marisa blushed as she returned the hug. a loud screech just above the barrier broke them apart quickly, so Reimu darted her eyes to the source of the noise. Just above the barrier was a large, winged dragon covered in dark red scales, muscular in its coiling serpentine body, its dark purple scales almost shimmering. The head of this beast resembled that of a T-rex of ancient times, but donning three drill-like horns; one on the nose and two curved forward from the back of the creature's head. The dragon began to glow, before it shrank, and took the form of a woman with long, red hair, and two pairs of bat wings, one on the back of her head, the other on her back. She descended through the barrier; it was not a strong barrier, but it was strong enough to prevent too many from entering at once.

"As you know, I come here on behalf of the Scarlet Clan," The woman spoke in a deep, mature, and respectful voice.

"It looks like you brought a whole friggin army with you." Reimu scowled, spreading her arms out into a fighting position.

The woman frowned. "It is true that I have come here on the orders of the Scarlet Clan's Mistress to remove any threat this shrine possesses to the Scarlet Clan's future plans." She stated bluntly.

"And by that you mean she wants to kill every living thing here so the Scarlet Clan can have an easier time conquering the world!" Reimu sneered, raising her miko stick threateningly.

The woman blinked and nodded, and a light frown crossed her lips. "Unfortunately, it must be so." She stated solemnly.

Both Reimu and Marisa began to charge their magical power, their hands glowing brightly with bullet energy ready to be fired. "Well you'd be delusional if you thought either of us would just sit back and allow you to stomp on Hakurei Shrine without having to fight first."

"Believe me, I have no personal quarrel with you, great hero of Gensokyo," The woman stated in her melancholy tone, "But I have my orders...and my honour. If you have yours, then it seems violent conflict is inevitable. Consider our parlay over, Mistress Hakurei." With those words, the woman bowed briefly, then ascended back above the barrier, and quickly snapped back into her winged reptile form. She emitted a massive, furious roar that shook the ground ever so slightly, which was answered by the deafening screech of horrid, vampiric beasts that were now charging straight for the shrine.

"I'll give her one thing," Marisa huffed, "She's at least polite about killing us."

The creatures crashed into the barrier with a loud, thunderous BANG! However, the barrier was strong enough to keep most of the creatures out, as a few vampire fairies were the only warriors that could seep through. Their skin was more pale than ivory, and their skin as melted and chunky-looking as old cheese. Their shining red eyes flickered menacingly as they jutted their yellow, pointy tusks menacingly.


	3. ACT III

In all honesty, they resembled bat-winged hobgoblins more closely than actual fairies. The creatures spewed out menacing dark red bolts at the duo, who darted off in opposite directions with haste, narrowly evading the attack. Both girls unleashed a hail of blue energy at the fairies; the bullets collided with the creatures, who could only shriek in shock before the bullets entered their bodies, causing them to erupt into flames from the inside out within a single second.

"It takes more than fairies to kick my ass," Reimu stated, smirking, "Assuredly even you...whoever you are...punt these guys for daily exercise."

"As puny as a single ant is," The dragon growled in a deep, beastly voice, "A whole colony is a force to be reckoned with."

More fairy vampires entered the fray, along with vampiric karakasa, who flashed their singular eyes, shining orange and gazing about madly, their bodies flapping about as if they were umbrellas held the wrong way in a storm, their razor fang-filled mouths dripping with rabid foam. The fanged umbrellas leapt high into the air, spinning furiously while the vampire fairies charged the two protagonists, barring their fangs and tusks as they charged red energy blasts in their hands. Marisa fired two bullets forward, piercing through two of the fairy vampires, while Reimu leapt over her, and aimed a precise crimson blast at the last vampire fairy, who was enveloped in flames and reduced to ashes. Sadly, this game the umbrellas enough time to use their own energy bullet attacks; they began to weep, but instead of water for tears, they cried long, thin blue laser beams. Reimu and Marisa dashed off to the sides, narrowly avoiding the rapid streams of deadly laser water, which even managed to catch Reimu's right sleeve, incinerating it in an instant. Reimu clenched her fists, scowling at the tear-spewing monster who had burned her arm, and she soared up to the entity, and grabbed it by its foot. She flailed the umbrella about, flinging the tear lasers at the other vampire parasols, lighting them on fire before their burnt shafts pattered and broke into ash chunks on the roof of the shrine.

"Rainy days ain't gonna keep me down" Reimu cooed.

"A few raindrops hurt nobody," The dragon retorted, "But a hurricane is deadly to all."

Reimu nearly jumped mid-air, as she realized the barrier was beginning to crack. _I would have hoped it would take a little longer before that would happen! _She thought as a cold sweat ran down her spine.

With a loud BOOM, more vampirism-infected Scarlet Clan Youkai poured in; this time, there were several tanuki girls. Reimu and Marisa nearly choked at the sight; patches of fur on their tails and once fuzzy ears were missing as if they were infected with mange, the lively caramel and brown colours of their hair and fur drained into monochrome grey. The pupils in their eyes were nonexistent, and their sickly pale flesh was kissing a few portions of skin, as if they had decayed for a while. Reimu and Marisa charged up more bright blue bullets; they weren't about to let this happen to anybody else.

The tanuki snarled, and charged Reimu and Marisa, who fired their bullets in response. However, these vampires were more dexterous; they zigged and zagged past every bullet our heroes shot at them like a leaf swaying g in the wind, only sped up, before leaping straight at them. One of them tackled Marisa to the ground, who immediately shoved them off and fired a small, golden energy beam, straight at the vampire's face. The vampire tanuki, however, dashed quickly enough to only lose her left forearm in the process, which only served to further antagonize the already boiling mad monster. Reimu didn't seem to have much luck either, as the tanuki she was fighting had fired her own angry red bullets to collide with, and counteract, Reimu's own attacks. Reimu snarled as she readied her miko stick, and flailed it at the tanuki with all of her sight. Although the contact made a very audible THUD, the tanuki vampire was almost completely unscathed. The youkai got up, barking and growling as if she were a rabid, injured wolf facing off against another pack of canines. Reimu backed up, lightly bumping into Marisa's back. The two protagonists, without looking at one another froze for an instant, but then seemed to come up with the same Idea. They both pulled out a single card each, then turned around and pointed them over each other's shoulders.

"Hakurei Amulet!" Reimu cried out as her card glowed crimson, as if radioactive.

"Master Spark!" Marisa shrieked desperately, as golden energy gathered inside her card.

A large, flaming symbol, and a massive horizontal pillar of power respectively shot out from the girls' cards, blasting away and utterly obliterating every last cell and molecule composing the vampire tanuki.

"Thanks..." Marisa whispered into Reimu's ear.

"I just wish we didn't have to use our spell cards so early." Reimu huffed in exasperation.

"You seem to be having a little trouble," The dragon pointed out, "Perhaps you should consider retreating."

"No Way!" Reimu defiantly gasped, "I've defended my family's shrine for years, and I'm not gonna let a bunch of flying leeches be the thing that finally ends the legacy!"

"I applaud your determination." The dragon stated respectfully, lowering her head and closing her eyes briefly, "But the odds still oppose you, Mistress Hakurei."

More crashing happened before several Jyorogumo descended to the roof upon dark silken threads. Their Spider-esque abdomen, with six legs, didn't change much, but the two-armed human upper-halves were turned from something once pretty and delicate, into something ghoulish. Their skin turned a sickly dark green, and seemed to almost melt right of the spider-peoples' bones. They were relatively high class before they were assimilated into the clan; evident from the once fine silken garbs, now torn nearly to ribbons, that they wore. The girls wasted no time in firing a barrage of blue and yellow at the vampiric spiders, but this proved to be a mistake, as the spiders quickly spun webs that caught all of the energy bullets, before swinging them rapidly around their heads like a caber of sorts, before releasing their grips, flinging the energy bullet-filled ball sacks directly at Reimu and Marisa. Reimu and Marisa both flew to the sides, but the blast radius was so massive that it left agitated, red burns on both of their sides, their clothing now at least half-charred, and their skin caked and peeling. While this would normally be very agonizing, the girls had a shrine, and each other to protect. Reimu, seemingly getting another Idea, extended her arms forward, and unleashed bullet, after bullet, after bullet of red energy at the spiders.


	4. ACT IV

"What are you doing?!" Marisa asked, not quite sure why Reimu would retry a failed strategy. It became evident, however, once the spiders launched another sack; Reimu lashed out her miko stick, sidestepped the projectile, snatched it by its non-explosive end with the miko stick, all before spinning about, flinging the bag of pain right back at the vampire spider youkai. One of the spider-vampires was incinerated to dust immediately, while a second lost half of their legs, and the third received angry red burns the way Reimu and Marisa did. A faint smile crossed Marisa's lips as she pointed her thumb up at Reimu, who winked in response. The remaining spiders dashed angrily for Marisa and Reimu, who ducked down and darted directly at the spiders in some sort of "chicken" competition. At the last second, Reimu swung up, while Marisa skidded into a slide as they both went past the confused spiders. Before the vampire spider youkai got the opportunity to react, Reimu and Marisa clasped their hands together, firing a single swirling beam of energy that penetrated both spiders, causing them both to burst spectacularly into exoskeleton shrapnel and bug ooze.

There was no time to celebrate, however, as Reimu noticed the barrier was almost white with the sheer amount of cracks in it. Reimu gritted her teeth in frustration.

Before Marisa could open her mouth to ask what was wrong, a huge dragon head burst through the barrier, roaring, snapping, and snarling with fury as its saliva was flung every which way. This dragon, however, was not the commander of this ensemble; This dragon had a long, flat snout, with sharp teeth emerging outward from both jaws, like an oversized, flying spinosaurus.

"Always with the damn dragons..." Reimu grunted, wiping her hand across her mouth, challenging the new creature.

The creature immediately lunged for Reimu, snagging her by her unburnt arm. Reimu instinctively fired off a sizzling red energy blast into the dragon's mouth, and while this did harm the dragon's tongue, they did not open their tongue, and instead, began to thrash and flail Reimu wildly through the air. Marisa's eyes widened as she immediately fired beam after beam after beam of golden, cackling power from her hands at the dragon, but the reptile was as clever as they were ferocious; they swung their head every which way, so quickly that Marisa missed every single shot, if only by a hair. All the while, Reimu beat the dragon's snout with her miko stick in a vain attempt to get them to release their grip, while making a similar effort with her other arm by firing any energy bullets she could, which only burned and butchered the dragon's tongue, but nothing else.

_If only I could get a spell card to my other arm! _Reimu thought in between swats and blasts, as the pain in her bitten arm intensified from the constant swinging and slashing. With her good arm, Reimu reached for her side, groping desperately for something. Finally, the contorted scowl of pain on Reimu's face turned to a triumphant smile when she grabbed a spell card from her dress; exactly what she needed! Reimu clumsily raised the card, while still being thrashed viciously. Reimu desperately mashed the card against the dragon's teeth as sweat barreled down her body, and her armpits bled profusely, her arm seemingly about to be severed by the reptile's clamping jaws. Sadly, the teeth were too tight and close; Reimu jabbed and trusted to get her spell card past the teeth, each thrust bumping into the limestone-hard walls of sharpened calcium that was about to take her arm off. Reimu then noticed that near her bitten arm, there was a sort of gap in between the monster's teeth where it had bitten down on Reimu's arm; perhaps the reason why it wasn't severed outright. A bright grin appeared on her face as she quickly shoved the card through the beasts teeth, swinging her other arm wildly inside of the dragon's mouth, before somehow grabbing the thin sheet of magical paper.

Reimu closed her eyes and loudly exhaled "Yin-Yang Orb!" Just at that moment, the card transformed into a massive orb, about the size of the shrine itself! The power-wreathed black-and-white orb forced the dragon's moth open, freeing Reimu from the creature's jaws of death. The Dragon roared in agony as the orb burst into flames within the dragon's mouth, erupting the beast's head into an enormous red and white fireball, destroying the head altogether. Reimu crashed to the ground as she saw the dragon's body fall limply out of the barrier.

"That was incredible, Reimu!" Marisa cried out, rushing over to the moaning and groaning half-baked Reimu. Reimu, however, seemed grim as she stared up at the barrier; pieces were falling out, cracks were so plentiful that they obscured all vision beyond them.

"Marisa..." Reimu whispered solemnly, "I can't do this anymore..."

"What?" Marisa asked, her voice cracking slightly as she slowly lifted Reimu off of the ground, holding her in her arms.

"The barrier is about to shatter," Reimu quietly pointed out, "After it does...we're all dead...unless..."

Reimu gripped one other card that she was carrying, and it began to glow with an ominous, cackling purple energy. Marisa gasped when she saw it.

"Reimu!" Marisa shouted, "That's your last spell card! If you try to fight them without it..."

"Then I'll take out a negligible amount of them before we both die," Reimu sighed as flakes of the crumbling barrier snowed and hazed around them, "At least this way, I can save you..."

The card vanished into a purple aura, and a purple portal appeared beneath Marisa's feet. Marisa managed to squeal out "REIMU! NO!" Before she vanished into the gap, which closed as soon as she disappeared within. Reimu laid on her back for a moment, staring at the crumbling barrier, it's loud crashing noises being the telltale sign that it would shatter.

Reimu raised both of her fists, charging glaring, cackling energy bullets in both of them. "It looks like these leeches really will end the legacy," Reimu mumbled grudgingly, "But I won't let them end me before I end at least two more of the poor bastards."

Then, a loud CRASH could be heard as the barrier completely crumbled to bits, allowing the hordes and hordes of vampiric youkai to swarm into the area. Reimu fired off her final energy bullets at the rapidly encroaching wave, hitting some unidentifiable youkai on their shoulders, causing them to yelp in pain and nothing more.


	5. ACT V

_So much for going down gloriously. _Reimu thought spitefully to herself as the first few vampire fairies fired back. Reimu closed her eyes as she heard loud crashes; the splintering, shattering wood around her as thousands of energy bullets tore and tore through everything beneath her.

_So they want me to know that my shrine is gone before they finish me. _Reimu pondered gloomily to herself as the wood consisting of her shrine was shredded and burned around her. Reimu raised her arms to cover her face as splinters flew about freely from all of the blasting and shooting, filling her ears with a discordant symphony of snaps, bursts, and cackles as every piece of her shrine was pulverized to dust.

However, Reimu began to hear something she never expected. What hit her ears next was a different cacophony; The screaming of millions of vampires, while feeling a familiar warmth all over her body. Reimu opened her eyes to the sight of ashes and bones flying all around her...and the light of the sun!

Reimu smiled radiantly. "Son of a bitch! I actually pulled it off!" Reimu chirped weakly as she drifted to the sandy ground, landing on her back where Hakurei Shrine used to be. Reimu then noticed something she didn't expect; the long serpentine form of the dragon from earlier. The dragon morphed back into the form of the red-haired bat-winged woman, and approached Reimu as the wind whipped up sand in every which way. Reimu gripped her bleeding arm and clenched her teeth; it seems the adrenaline distracting her from the pain had worn off.

"Congratulations, Miss Hakurei," The woman whistled while bowing respectfully, "You have defeated the Scarlet Clan Army."

Reimu barely lifted her head and raised an eyebrow. "You are not going to finish me off?" Reimu asked.

"Milady, I already stated that I have no quarrel with you," The woman reminded Reimu, "Besides, the shrine has been destroyed. My work here is done."

Reimu winced. "Can you at least...help me out here?" Reimu growled, gripping her bleeding arm tighter.

"Unfortunately, I am honour-bound to never aid the enemies of the Scarlet Clan," The woman stated solemnly, "But know this; even though you do not see your friends, there may be some friendly soul around who can help you. As for me, there is no hope; the destruction of the Scarlet Army will be blamed on me, and I will be...punished for allowing such casualties."

"Then why go back?!" Reimu wheezed, "Why not just run away?!"

"Because that would be dishonorable," The woman stated calmly, "Besides...all of my friends are within the Scarlet Clan." With that, the woman turned around, waved her hand, and flew off.

"Go eat a...ehh...she can't hear me..." Reimu grumbled, as she began to lose consciousness. Reimu's eyes closed, and she let out one massive sigh.

"Marisa...I'm sorry...I'm really...really...sorry..." Reimu whispered out before slipping away.

As Reimu lay out and cold in the stinging desert heat, the yukkuris began to emerge from the ground around her. The blue-haired, blue-eyed yukkuri and a silver-haired yukkuri with a nurse cap slided over to Reimu.

"I...is she...dead...?" The little blue-haired yukkuri sobbed out. The silver-haired yukkuri hopped on top of Reimu, and moved to her chest, placing her ear above Reimu's left breast.

"No! No! Goodness no!" The older nurse yukkuri stated triumphantly, "She's just taking it easy!"

All of the other yukkuris began to cheer and squeal happily. "She's alive! She's alive!" They all shouted.

"She needs us to help easy!" The doctorkkuri snapped enthusiastically, "Take her to old yukkuri place!"

The yukkuris wasted no time in lifting Reimu up upon themselves, before carrying Reimu over to a nearby dune. The yukkuris who were not carrying Reimu dug up and spat out the sand around the dune, until they found the roof of a limestone structure with a trapdoor. The yukkuris all took Reimu inside of the large temple, finding room to lay her down.

Meanwhile, far away, Marisa Kirisame stared in shock at the sky as it lit up bright and white.

"The barrier!" Marisa shrieked, "It's breaking!" Indeed, the barrier surrounding the world of Gensokyo crumbled all around.

"REIMU!" Marisa cried out "NOOO! REEEIIIMUUU!" She collapsed to the ground in an instant, pounding the ground without even bothering to choke back the tears. "Why did you use that gap?! Why didn't you leave me there instead?!" She shrieked.

**(Many Years Later)**

Reimu finally opened her eyes to the sight of the blue-haired yukkuri sitting next to her. The two blinked for a few seconds before the yukkuri began to chirp and cheer. "Mama's awake! She's awake easy!" She squealed with delight.

"Mama...?" Reimu asked confused. She looked around the room, noting the rough, tan bricks that composed the walls juxtaposed to the smooth pillars of the same colour, with lanterns filled with a sort of magical orange light.

"Where exactly is this...hell?" Reimu asked out loud. "No...it can't be," She quickly corrected herself, "Hell has a better fashion sense than this place."

The silver-haired doctorkkuri bounced enthusiastically. "This is easy temple! Yukkuri safe and easy place! Build it easy!"

Reimu raised an eyebrow. "YOU guys built this?! Hah! I bet you just squatted here," Reimu teased, "Besides, how can you build without hands?"

"Easy!" The doctor squealed as she whistled. More yukkuris piled into the room with another tan brick. The yukkuris arranged themselves into a ramp before the doctor and blue-haired yukkuri pushed the brick up the "ramp," allowing it to fall over.

"Huh! Clever." Reimu stated.

"Not really," The doctor explained, "Easy place built easy long time in the past! Past when sandy sand there before woody wood!"

"This place was a desert before?" Reimu asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes, but yukkuris make woody wood and plants come back easy," The blue-haired yukkuri called, "Did it then! Do it now!"

Reimu nodded. "But...why did you save me?" She asked, "Not only was I rude to you...but I must have looked like a corpse to you!"

The doctor began to hop and leap. "You let us stay in Hak...Haku...Hack-ah-ray shrine on top of easy temple! Keeps us safe and easy!" The doctor squealed, "I healed you easy!"

Reimu looked at herself; while half of her body was covered in a painful-looking burn scar, she seemed alright.

"And I put food in your tiny belly!" The small, blue-haired yukkuri chirped, flailing a spoon, "Feed, feed easy!"

Reimu smiled as she put her hand on the small yukkuri, and gently stroked her. "I...honestly...thank you. Thank you all. But...What about Marisa? Maybe she still knows I..." Reimu tried to get up, but she gripped her chest and whimpered.

"Still too hurt," The doctor pointed out, "Heal more!"

"We help you, easy!" The blue-haired yukkuri squealed, snuggling right next to Reimu, "Yukkuris love you, mama!"

Reimu gave an uneasy smile. "I suppose..." She whispered.

Reimu couldn't help but feel as though something was amiss; normally, she would feel secure just about anywhere in Gensokyo. Now, however, her spine shivered as if trying to tell her that nowhere was safe anymore.

Nobody noticed, however, the silver-haired human doctor watching from the shadows...

THE END! TO NOT BE CONTINUED!


End file.
